David, Roger and I set off to
Eyebrook Reservoir in rather dim and dismal weather and it was feeling a cool
in the north-east wind. There was a
Kestrel over the road just after passing through Cranoe and we had a Buzzard on
the hedge as we approached the Medbourne Road and party of circa forty
Fieldfares as we turned towards Blaston.
Whilst travelling along the Uppingham Road there was a second Kestrel
just before the Stockerston Lane crossroads and we then had two Red Kites as we
dropped down the hill to the Eyebrook Reservoir turn.
As we approached the reservoir
there was no sign of the Little Owl this morning but a stop at the bridge
produced a Little Egret, four Fieldfares, a Redwing and five Siskin. After Monday’s heavy rains the reservoir was
on top water and consequently other than a few Lapwings flying around there
were no other waders. We made a couple
of stops on the Rutland side and saw four Red Kites over the fields on the
Leicestershire side and fifth was over the road on the Rutland side. Roger then picked up a Buzzard on the ground
on the Leicestershire side and there was a good selection of wildfowl on the
reservoir, including two Pintail, a Pochard and fourteen Goldeneye.
From Eyebrook Reservoir we
made our way towards the dam at Rutland Water and stopped an area of scrub
approaching Wing, where we found a Jay and had yet another Red Kite floating
above the area. From Lyndon we headed
towards North Luffenham before heading to Edith Weston and the dam and saw
another Red Kite just before North Luffenham.
We headed east along Normanton
Park Road towards the dam and parked in the now locked gates to scan the
dam. To our surprise we picked one of
the Great Northern Divers not too far away from the dam almost straight away
and then David found the second in a similar position off the Sykes Lane
side. I thought it would be worthwhile
going to the Sykes Lane car park and then walking along the dam to hopefully
get a photo of the bird. After parking
we walked out to the dam but we couldn’t locate the second diver although the first
was still visible on the south side. As
we continued scanning I picked up a Peregrine flying low over the water between
us and the distant diver. It made several
circuits over the water but we then watched as it flew off to the east and away
from the reservoir. I was disappointed
that the Sykes Lane diver had disappeared and decided to walk over the dam to
try and photograph the one we had seen first.
When I reached the area I saw it on the surface just before it dived but
it came up again and was still fairly close and I managed to get a few decent
shots in what was pretty awful light.
Juvenile Great Northern Diver
Juvenile Great Northern Diver
Juvenile Great Northern Diver
Juvenile Great Northern Diver
Juvenile Great Northern Diver
Juvenile Great Northern Diver
Juvenile Great Northern Diver
Juvenile Great Northern Diver
After taking quite a few shots
I headed back across the dam and joined David and Roger who hadn’t been able to
locate the second diver or see anything else of note.
Our next stop was to be the
North Arm and as we headed off back to the car yet another Red Kite drifted
over the car park. After parking the car
at the end of the unnamed road we scanned the fishponds and found two female
Goosanders and a Buzzard on the ground on the northern side. We then moved through the gate to view the
rest of the arm. There were five Little
Egrets on the bund and one of the Great White Egrets flew in and joined three
of them on the northern side. We went
into the meadow to the south of the spit to get some shelter from the cold wind
and found a Redshank feeding on the shoreline.
Roger then found two small grebes out on the water, which proved quite
difficult to identify as they were constantly diving. However with some persistence we were able to
determine that one was a Black-necked Grebe, whilst the other was a Slavonian
Grebe. We the found a second Redshank on
the south shore and counted sixteen Pintail in the bay. Malcolm then joined us and we spent quite a
bit more time looking along the northern shore where we found the two Barnacle
Geese and a drake Goosander and a second Great White Egret flew over, which
then joined the first Great White Egret.
Great White Egret
I picked up a Red Kite and two
Buzzards over Burley Wood and two other Buzzards soaring around the southern
wood were quite vocal.
We finally decided to move on
and went to view the south arm from the Old Hall. After parking we scanned the area from near
the cattle grid but with nothing unusual being found we walked to the other
side of the Old Hall to view the more eastern bay. We hadn’t been scanning very long when David
found the Red-necked Grebe, which wasn’t too far out and after viewing it for
several minutes Malcolm and I went down to the shore to see if we get any
photos. When we got to the shore it was
perhaps further out than we first thought but I did get a few record shots.
Red-necked Grebe
Red-necked Grebe
As Malcolm and I walked back
we saw a Great Spotted Woodpecker but David and Roger had gone on ahead and as
we approached them it looked as though they were looking at something of
interest, however they hadn’t found anything and were just scanning a party of
Tufted Duck. I started to scan the same
party and found a female Scaup and having got the others onto it I found a
male.
After walking back to the car
we headed for the Egleton Reserve where we had lunch before going into the Bird
Watching Centre to view Lagoon One.
There was a couple of Dunlin and a Snipe on the long island but I only
managed to see one of the Dunlin and there was also plenty of Pintail of which
I counted 100 and one of the Great White Egrets was at the back of the
lagoon. A male Stonechat was observed in
front of the centre and second male was seen towards Mallard Hide.
We eventually all went to the
northern lagoons seeing circa twenty Redwings on route. The water is still very low on Lagoon Three
but few birds are using the areas close to the hide. There was a Great White Egret alongside the
reedbed and eight Little Egrets were observed either on an area cleared
recently or in flight over the reedbed.
There was a single Shelduck and four Pintail on the lagoon and a Buzzard
was observed over the woodland at the back of the reedbed.
From Shoveler Hide we went to
Crake Hide in the hope of seeing a Kingfisher but had no joy and saw just a
Little Egret and a couple of Little Grebes.
Another birder was returning from Lapwing Hide indicating that he had
found nothing except a female Scaup and so we decided not to go, which proved
to be a mistake as a red-headed Smew was reported a little later.
A quick visit to Smew Hide
produced another Shelduck on Lagoon Two and we saw a Green Woodpecker as we
approached Sandpiper Hide on Lagoon Four.
The water level on Lagoon Four is now quite high and the number of birds
using the lagoon continues to decline. A
careful scan did produce a female Peregrine perched on one of the island signs
and there was another Shelduck towards the Volunteer’s Centre.
As we walked back to the
centre we found a small party of birds feeding in an Alder close to the path
but a careful search only produced three Goldfinches and two Siskin. On reaching the centre there was still a
Great White Egret at the back of the lagoon and it wasn’t long before we had
the Barn Owl quartering the area around Harrier Hide and one occasion it
flushed six Snipe.
With the light fading we
called it a day with seventy-eight species recorded during the day.
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